Communicating the Vaccine Through Design

We’ve heard a lot about the vaccine recently, particularly how the UK is preparing for a nationwide roll out of vaccinations. The announcement has been widely celebrated with many viewing it as a light at the end of a long year. However, some attitudes differ. According to a survey from November, two thirds of people in the UK say they are likely to take the vaccine when it becomes available, but there are many who are uncertain.

With such high stakes, there’s now attention on how to spread clear information about vaccines and encourage more people to take it. Thompson Brand Partners creative director, Chris Skelton says that any vaccination campaign from the NHS would benefit from people’s trust in the brand, however when it comes to a newly produced vaccine, it’s not always that simple.

When designing such an important campaign as this one, the language and visuals should be simple and straightforward. And, while it makes sense to communicate across a range of platforms, initially it would be best through television adverts or printed material for the greatest effect. This campaign should also have one clear message, this is to avoid confusion and miscommunication of information about the vaccine, which can be easily done. Therefore, this is why the roll of the designers is not easy as they cannot afford to miss the mark.

Building a campaign with a long-term view would likely help bridge this moment of transition, the designers believe. Covid19 communications so far have been about warning, and news of a vaccine is a turning point, but it will be a big leap in people’s minds from being scared of everything to trusting the vaccine. However, with time the campaign will strength and it becomes easier to target a specific audience as communication also becomes greater.

Designers of the campaign believe there should also be an element of celebration included as it is the first step in return to normal life. While this may not be something included in the government’s campaigns, you may have seen brands like Carlsberg or On the Beach starting to promote the return of normality, and as we are all hoping, holidays!

A focus on “plain English” will also be key, the designers say. That’s not just for any campaign but also annotations and labelling of graphs and data that is shared. This is a key focus because the general public have to have trust in the vaccine and throwing facts and figures at them without any idea of what it means will only make everyone more cautious, which will entirely defeat the object.

This campaign will need to speak on a more intimate level, highlighting the struggle of the year, but ultimately the good it brought out in humanity. We’ve all learnt a lot in the past year but having the ability to communicate the understanding and overall relief the vaccine can bring is such an important goal for any designer working on this campaign.